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Deep Fear
Deep Fear (ディープフィアー Dīpu Fiā) is a 1998 survival horror video game developed by Sega AM7 and System Sacom for the Sega Saturn. The game offers unique gameplay features such as buttons that allow the player to use items in real-time, aiming while moving, and falling oxygen levels. The music was composed by Kenji Kawai, and the creatures and characters were designed by manga artist Yasushi Nirasawa. Gameplay The game takes place 300 meters below the surface of the Pacific Ocean in a naval fueling and research facility known as "Big Table" (SSB-01). Players assume the role of John Mayor, an ex-Navy SEAL who has joined forces with a civilian rescue organisation called Emergency Rescue Service (ERS). Players move John through the pre-rendered rooms of the Big Table which are shown from fixed camera angles using a permanent 3D control scheme. Players can turn on or off certain on-screen indicators such as an oxygen counter, health meter and bullet count. Once armed, players can move using the D-pad and can run while aiming a firearm. The game fully utilizes the Saturn's six-button controller, allowing players to have instant access to a map screen as well as real-time use of grenades and health items, which may be used without resorting to the inventory screen. The Big Table's oxygen supply is dwindling. Therefore, one necessity for survival is to refill low oxygenated areas and thus avoid asphyxiation. Overuse of firearms depletes the oxygen more quickly. In some areas, oxygen can be replenished (an unlimited number of times) by finding yellow oxygen boxes known as Air System (AS). When the player has a regulator, an AS allows him to refill it. If the player is not using the oxygen level indicator, a red emergency light will indicate a low oxygen level. Low oxygen level rooms will appear in red on the player's map. Oxygen grenades can be used to replenish low oxygen level rooms or hallways. If the player is not near an AS or lacks oxygen grenades, they can use a regulator to breathe in low oxygen areas and in flooded areas. Each room entrance has two doors with a vacuum system between them; this ensures that a flooded room will not leak outside the room. Similarly to Resident Evil, players must draw their weapon with one button and fire it with a different one. The player can move while armed and automatically lock on to enemies by depressing the aim button. There is an option for the player to switch manually between targets. The Big Table has a large supply of ammunition for a number of different weapons. The weapons and ammunition are located in the weapon storage rooms. However, security is maintained and so some weapons can only be accessed by important individuals in The Big Table. The player obtains these weapons by securing the appropriate weapon storeroom pass-cards. Summary A small capsule from space has landed near The Big Table. It contains a chimpanzee who was launched into space forty years before the start of the game, as part of an experiment about the effects of cosmic radiation on a living creature. The cosmic radiation caused the chimp to undergo a mutation whereby its metabolism slowed and it went into hibernation. Commander Clancy assigns Gena Weisburg to unravel the mystery of the chimp so the same effect may be used to allow humans to travel into deep space. The Sea Fox, a small but fast nuclear submarine, has been dispatched to refuel at The Big Table and investigate the capsule. The Sea Fox crashes into the base at a part called the Navy Area, The Big Table's top secret research facility. Ignoring the high security level of the Navy Area, the base commander calls in a SEAL team as a primary rescue force, and also sends the ERS to extract an important doctor. Hostile mutants in The Big Table are troublesome: human beings (both living and undead) are being transformed into grotesque creatures that kill. The hostile mutants are weakened by high levels of oxygen and so they try to destroy The Big Table's oxygen generators. The mutation creating the hostile mutants is the result of the effect of cosmic radiation on common bacteria. John Mayor, who is afflicted with a cold, is unaffected by the infectious mutation and must try to rescue The Big Table's occupants and escape. Plot The game begins with a mysterious space pod reentering Earth's atmosphere, parachuting down to the Pacific Ocean. Having tracked down the pod's last known coordinates, the Navy sent the nuclear-powered submarine, SEA FOX, to retrieve it. After successfully retrieving the pod, SEA FOX immediately sets course for the underwater facility, Big Table, for the pod to be further studied. The game jumps four months following the pod's retrieval focusing on the main protagonist, John Mayor, an ERS operative who had just been assigned to the Big Table. Mourning the death of his fiancée, Stella, John was suddenly called away by his partner, Mookie Carver, for an emergency at the E-Pool. The emergency turned out to be just an April Fool's prank plotted by both Mookie and photographer, Sharon State, much to John's unamusement. Meanwhile, the SEA FOX returns to the Big Table for a routine refueling. Shortly after detaching from the base, the SEA FOX's crew were attacked by unknown assailants, causing the submarine to crash into the Navy Area. John is called away to the CCD Area's Control Deck to meet with the facility's commander-in-chief, Clancy Dawkins, and the Big Table's designer, DuBois Amalric. While they wait for the SEAL rescue team, Commander Clancy orders John to help evacuate the Navy Area's personnel, particularly MI's head researcher, Dr. Gena Weisburg. Using the submersible, Little Shark, both John and Mookie enter the Navy Area to look for survivors. The two eventually found an injured survivor who pleads to John to kill him, handing his handgun. As the two became baffled and confused by the man's request, the survivor immediately mutates into a grotesque creature. Mookie runs off in fear, while John was forced to put down the now hostile survivor. John regrouped with Mookie and the two proceeded further into the Navy Area, only to discover that the other survivors have also been transformed into mutants. After fighting off several creatures, John was eventually able to locate Dr. Weisburg and her chimpanzee both alive and well. Gaining control of the Navy Area's Control Deck, John had the platform docked into the Big Table. John and the others enter the Docking Area, greeted by field director, Danny Reynolds. Shortly after their arrival, Dr. Weisburg immediately leaves to report back to Commander Clancy, while John explains to Danny about the creatures and orders him to have Navy Area be quarantined. As Danny and Mookie went back to retrieve Little Shark, John heads back to report to Commander Clancy, running into DuBois along the way who is concerned by the Air Unit Area's howling noises. Upon entering Clancy's office, John confronts Clancy regarding the creatures, though Clancy denies any knowledge of the creatures' existence nor the Navy's involvement. Shortly after, Clancy is contacted by the Control Deck, reporting that the crashed SEA FOX's had just opened it's torpedo hatch. John and Clancy immediately head for the Control Deck, only to witness the SEA FOX launch one of it's torpedo at the Air Unit Area. Although the area was damaged from the hit, it still remained intact due to the safety system. Their moment of relief soon vanished once they learned that the SEA FOX is preparing to launch it's entire arsenal of Poseidon Missiles to destroy the Air Unit Area. Suspecting it to be the work of terrorists and with the incoming SEAL team still far away to reach the base, Commander Clancy orders John instead to infiltrate and deactivate the SEA FOX's missiles due to his past experience as a SEAL operative. Cast Trivia *Deep Fear became the last Saturn game to be released in Europe. *The Parasite Cell creatures were designed by the late manga artist, Yasushi Nirasawa, known for his work on various tokusatsu/metal heroes shows, particularly the Kamen Rider series. **Ironically, Deep Fear was featured in one of the commercials of Sega Saturn's mascot, Segata Sanshiro, who is portrayed by actor Hiroshi Fujioka, known for his portrayal as Takeshi Hongo, the first Kamen Rider. *Deep Fear was the last game co-director, Kunihiro Shirahata, worked on and was the start of his 19 year hiatus from video game. He would return to work on the 2017 game, Hey! Pikmin. *Deep Fear's co-director, Hiroyuki Maruhama, would go on to work on Dino Crisis 3. *The plot of Deep Fear shares similarities to the 1989 science-fiction film, Leviathan, where the crew of a an underwater mining facility discovered a Soviet shipwreck that carried a deadly pathogen that started to transform the crew into hideous mutant creatures.